I had a pit in my stomach when I first saw the photo.
I was OK with the bobcat behind my house, and loved having a fox around. However, that coyote was an unwelcome sight. To make matters worse, it was walking past my camera every night and morning. Sometimes I would see it during daylight hours.
What is it about coyotes that causes us to have such polarizing gut reactions?
I’ve hunted coyotes and seen them in the woods while I’ve deer hunted. There are few things more unnerving than walking into your stand in the dark and hearing a nearby coyote howl. The one on my trail camera was just too close to my house and too comfortable coming and going.
There are many others that share this sentiment.
Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s furbearer management plan highlights Mainer’s attitudes toward coyotes. It details: “people are less tolerant of coyotes than they are of any other furbearer species, commonly viewing them as dangerous or a nuisance. When asked to rate the environmental benefit of various species on a scale of zero (having no value) to ten (very beneficial), Maine residents, landowners, hunters and trappers all gave coyotes the lowest value of any furbearer.”
This plan also describes how tolerant we are of coyotes. Hint: We are not. “More than a third of residents experienced conflicts with wildlife in the past two years, with raccoons, skunks, foxes, and coyotes being the most conflict-prone furbearer species.”
While I don’t want coyotes around, the more I questioned my gut reaction. Maybe it’s OK to have coyotes nearby if the result is a reduction in deer densities. It seems like there’s at least one new road-kill deer on my route to work every week. During this time of year when fawns are being born and are an easy target for coyotes, maybe predation could help reduce the population a bit.
Hunters harvest thousands of does each year, but it’s not enough. It’s likely that we are not prioritizing filling doe tags as quickly as we are with our buck tags.
The state’s deer biologist, Nathan Bieber and I talked about the impact of doe harvest since hunters were permitted to kill a doe and buck instead of one or the other.
The statewide doe harvest has significantly increased since the doe permit program started. The average number of adult does harvested over the past three years was 12,165. Prior to this, the average was 8,794 in 2019-2021 and 6,675 in 2016-2018.
In 2022, the harvest goal of 13,807 does was slightly surpassed with 13,883 does tagged. Since then, the goal has increased to 15,720 in 2023 and 16,532 in 2024, but hunters only tagged 10,849 in 2023 and 11,763 in 2024.
Ultimately the doe population is only reduced for a few months before fawns replace the fall harvest. Maybe my neighborhood coyote will help prevent the population from growing more. I can also get a doe tag and do my part.
There are so many pieces to think about when looking at the social and biological carrying capacities for deer and coyotes. We get excited when we see a new fawn on our trail cameras, but are unsettled if there’s a coyote with pups.
I can’t guarantee that I won’t shoot a coyote if I see one while I’m out in the woods, but for right now, the one behind my house is safe.
